Page 3 of 5 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast
Results 51 to 75 of 104
  1. #51
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    truckee
    Posts
    23,111
    Quote Originally Posted by 4matic View Post
    WM runs its own Refund Value locations so they aren't just recycling the CRV eligible containers. They get the CRV value.
    I think my wife feels more comfortable around the homeless people than around Walmart customers.

  2. #52
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    PNW
    Posts
    7,364
    What gets me about recycling nazis is, don't buy the fucking plastic container in the first place

  3. #53
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Down on Electric Avenue
    Posts
    4,402
    Quote Originally Posted by detrusor View Post
    Used to work with a guy in Montana who threw all his empty beer cans in the back of his truck. Once it was full he would throw a tarp on there and drive to OR to get .05 each. Fill the truck, buy as much beer as he could and drive home.

    Yeah, besides being the biggest redneck ive ever met he had a problem.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    Your neighbor was a Deranged Conservative?

  4. #54
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    EWA
    Posts
    22,004
    First it was no more glass now it's no more plastic and paper also. I live in the county and have never had recycle pick-up but I did take it in myself.


    Walla Walla faces reality of global recycling problem

    A can tossed into the blue-lid bin at the curb of a Walla Walla residence travels via a Basin Disposal truck to the Walla Walla Recycling Center, a private business, where it is baled and shipped to Pioneer Recycling Services.

    The material is then sorted, contaminants are eliminated, and the material is shipped to China. Recently, however, this has become a costly problem nationwide because China only takes bundled recycled materials with 0.5% contamination.

    With that in mind, Walla Walla City Council voted unanimously earlier this month to pass an ordinance that allows the city to dump the recyclable materials from Walla Walla residents into the Sudbury Landfill instead of recycling them if the cost to ship recyclables to China exceeds the cost to dump recyclables into the landfill

    This ordinance also requires all residents of Walla Walla to pay a recycling commodities surcharge of $1.29 per month, with a $0.08 increase per month, on top of the current rate for recycling, which is $5.04 per month.

    It will take effect Jan. 1, 2020.

    The last month the city was making a profit from recycled materials was July 2017, according to city staff reports. The average monthly tonnage to sell overseas is $116.50 per ton compared to $91.90 per ton to dump in the Sudbury Landfill.

    “Our interest here is to cap that cost so that the customer does not have to face the impacts of the world market,” said Ki Bealey, director of Public Works.

    An alternative to this ordinance was considered for continuation of recycling that would mean a recycling commodities surcharge of $1.60 per month and a $0.39 increase per month would be required on top of the monthly recycling rate of $5.04, according to official documents.

    Marty Gehrke, the owner of Walla Walla Recycling Center said it’s not too late for the city to hold a special meeting to change the ordinance if they receive pressure from residents.

    He’s worried because around 123 tons of recycled material is given to the Recycling Center from residential recycle pickup per month.

    This is one fourth of the Center’s business — they receive 400 tons of recycling per month in total, from local grocery stores and surrounding towns like Milton-Freewater, Waitsburg, and Dayton, according to Gehrke.

    Bealey said the city still needs to keep “preserving the system that if this gets under control (global recycling market) that the system (Recycling Center) is still in place to be able to recycle.”

    Loss of revenue is a big concern, the Recycling Center has a six-year contract with Basin Disposal, which gives them some funding to get by.

    “Every month that goes by just makes it a little harder,” Gehrke said.

    The Center has had to stop accepting paper and plastic because it is too costly. Gehrk is also concerned that residents who want to continue recycling will bring their materials to him directly, which will be even more costly.

    Walla Walla Recycling Center will no longer accept paper and plastic.

    He said cardboard will still be accepted and is the only recycled material that is getting better in terms of cost.

    The reason for this high expense is due to the China Sword Policy, “which is the international model for recyclables that has greatly diminished and significantly pushed up our cost as a result,” Bealey said.

    This is not just a problem for Walla Walla. It is happening all over the country, Bealey said.

    This policy created a limit of “0.5% contamination on recyclable material coming from overseas. The industry standard for scrap material contamination is 1.5% to 5%. It is estimated that recyclable material that leaves Walla Walla for the material recovery facility ... contains an average of about 10% to 12% contamination,” according to the city’s website.

    Walla Walla staff have been notified of award of a grant that will provide $60,000 to be spent over a two-year period in support of the Contamination Reduction Plan from the Department of Ecology, according to official documents.

    The city said they do not want to destroy or damage the recycling system. They want to be able to keep it intact.

    “We believe and we hope eventually the recycling market will be right sided again and at least we will be able to achieve some sort of break even point,” said City Manager Nabiel Shawa.

    City Councilman Jerry Cummins explained on this: “One of the Council goals that we have with the state of Washington is to have Ecology put a recycling sorting facility at Wallula … Rather than sending our materials at a far distance and even overseas, maybe we can start looking at how we can do some sorting here and using it locally.”
    When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something." Rep. John Lewis


    Kindness is a bridge between all people

    Dunkin’ Donuts Worker Dances With Customer Who Has Autism

  5. #55
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Beautiful BC
    Posts
    2,970
    Quote Originally Posted by DJSapp View Post
    Or you could point out that after you mail your crap to whomever, it is getting shipped to China and dumped along the way...
    CBC did an investigation about where your recycling goes after it gets picked from the curb. They added GPS trackers to baled plastic at 3 different companies in Ontario to see where it went. One company actually recycled the plastic. One company sent it to an incinerator and one company sent it to China.

    At least the homeowners feel good that they're doing their part to save the planet.
    If you have a problem & think that someone else is going to solve it for you then you have two problems.

  6. #56
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Posts
    1,020

    So I just responded to a neighborhood email re: recycling

    Our local recycling depot caught fire.

    The paper had been getting sent out but it looks like they had run out of folks to fob the plastics on. So instead of just saying no - it accumulated. Results were the nastiest thing I have ever had the displeasure to try to extinguish in all my days.

    You could put out the top layer - but that would melt and would form a protective film over the next layer. I swear I lost about 5 years off the end of my life just being near it.

    I curse that thing every time anyone even mentions plastic "recycling" - sure we are recycling it into heat energy when we burn it in third world countries

    Me and a friend - feeling green
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	recycling-fire-5.jpg 
Views:	86 
Size:	145.8 KB 
ID:	302962
    Last edited by LHutz Esq; 11-19-2019 at 11:15 PM.

  7. #57
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    valley of the heart's delight
    Posts
    2,474
    Bumping an old thread that seems relevant.

    It's becoming clear to many people that recycling most (all?) plastic doesn't make sense. Why can't we just throw it away?

    I understand that many people have a religious determination to recycle, but this seems a wasteful sacred cow. And everyone knows cows are bad for the environment. Let's kill this cow.

    I contend it is far better for the environment to use plastic whenever it has the lowest life-cycle cost. And there's no reason that life-cycle shouldn't end at a landfill if that's the least impact. My engineering background makes me strongly believe the best way to package and transport many items is in plastic containers. I have seen no formal argument against single use plastics that accounts for and compares it to the life-cycle costs of alternates. All the alternates I've seen require more resources to make and transport.

    For some reason, landfills have become haram in the Eco-religion. The eco-priests are detached from science, economics, and reason. Yes, there's an environmental cost to a landfill. Include that in the calculations, and prefer the products that minimize environmental cost. I contend landfilling plastic has a smaller eco cost with fewer externalities than any alternative. The eco-priests have lost sight of their founding "eco" goals, and now worship a false god called no-waste.

    We spend an enormous amount of labor to separate it in our homes. Then we pay for a vast infrastructure to transport it separately, process it some more, find it has no value, and landfill it anyway. It's crazy. The proposed solution of banning plastic is also crazy.

  8. #58
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    10,901
    I just like filling up the blue bin because it’s bigger than the grey bin.





    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

  9. #59
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    17,748
    Plus think about future archeologists learning about how we lived today and finding a treasure trove of plastics in a PA or OH landfill. The Neanderthals left only some arrowheads and bones and we know next to nothing about them. If they had plastics we’d have a lot more info about them.

  10. #60
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    I can still smell Poutine.
    Posts
    24,503
    Quote Originally Posted by LongShortLong View Post
    Bumping an old thread that seems relevant.

    It's becoming clear to many people that recycling most (all?) plastic doesn't make sense. Why can't we just throw it away?

    I understand that many people have a religious determination to recycle, but this seems a wasteful sacred cow. And everyone knows cows are bad for the environment. Let's kill this cow.

    I contend it is far better for the environment to use plastic whenever it has the lowest life-cycle cost. And there's no reason that life-cycle shouldn't end at a landfill if that's the least impact. My engineering background makes me strongly believe the best way to package and transport many items is in plastic containers. I have seen no formal argument against single use plastics that accounts for and compares it to the life-cycle costs of alternates. All the alternates I've seen require more resources to make and transport.

    For some reason, landfills have become haram in the Eco-religion. The eco-priests are detached from science, economics, and reason. Yes, there's an environmental cost to a landfill. Include that in the calculations, and prefer the products that minimize environmental cost. I contend landfilling plastic has a smaller eco cost with fewer externalities than any alternative. The eco-priests have lost sight of their founding "eco" goals, and now worship a false god called no-waste.

    We spend an enormous amount of labor to separate it in our homes. Then we pay for a vast infrastructure to transport it separately, process it some more, find it has no value, and landfill it anyway. It's crazy. The proposed solution of banning plastic is also crazy.
    Wrong takeaway bud.

  11. #61
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Almost Mountains
    Posts
    1,883
    Quote Originally Posted by LongShortLong View Post
    Bumping an old thread that seems relevant.

    It's becoming clear to many people that recycling most (all?) plastic doesn't make sense. Why can't we just throw it away?

    I understand that many people have a religious determination to recycle, but this seems a wasteful sacred cow. And everyone knows cows are bad for the environment. Let's kill this cow.

    I contend it is far better for the environment to use plastic whenever it has the lowest life-cycle cost. And there's no reason that life-cycle shouldn't end at a landfill if that's the least impact. My engineering background makes me strongly believe the best way to package and transport many items is in plastic containers. I have seen no formal argument against single use plastics that accounts for and compares it to the life-cycle costs of alternates. All the alternates I've seen require more resources to make and transport.

    For some reason, landfills have become haram in the Eco-religion. The eco-priests are detached from science, economics, and reason. Yes, there's an environmental cost to a landfill. Include that in the calculations, and prefer the products that minimize environmental cost. I contend landfilling plastic has a smaller eco cost with fewer externalities than any alternative. The eco-priests have lost sight of their founding "eco" goals, and now worship a false god called no-waste.

    We spend an enormous amount of labor to separate it in our homes. Then we pay for a vast infrastructure to transport it separately, process it some more, find it has no value, and landfill it anyway. It's crazy. The proposed solution of banning plastic is also crazy.
    Part of the challenge is that lifecycle cost is really tough to understand and changes depending on the angle you're costing. Another is that many of the lifecycle environmental costs of alternatives can be mitigated (eg increased energy cost is less of a big deal if sourced from a clean source), but plastic in a landfill is forever in the environment, and we've got the added issue of microplastics throughout the environment now with (afaik) no effective way to capture them.

    Sent from my SM-G892A using TGR Forums mobile app

  12. #62
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    NCW
    Posts
    4,577
    Quote Originally Posted by LongShortLong View Post
    We spend an enormous amount of labor to separate it in our homes.
    Lol Wut?

  13. #63
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    The Mayonnaisium
    Posts
    10,467
    That's some Nextdoor-level, pointy-headed drunken rant.

  14. #64
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    17,748
    Quote Originally Posted by jackattack View Post
    Lol Wut?
    Quote Originally Posted by riser4 View Post
    Wrong takeaway bud.
    When I owned the Branch Covidian complex in beautiful S. VT we had zero sort garbage. We were informed that this was sorted at the transfer station or somewhere along the way. I assumed all of VT was like that. Maybe not? In the Garden State we are required to sort it ourselves. I'm not sure it takes much more time, other than when one of our drunken VT friends visits and throws it in the regular garbage and I have to dig it out from the leftover lo mein.
    "timberridge is terminally vapid" -- a fortune cookie in Yueyang

  15. #65
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    I can still smell Poutine.
    Posts
    24,503
    It all depends on your waste hauler. Mine requires sorting. Casella has zero sort. Which is one reason I don't use them. The other is cost. I use Duffy's.

  16. #66
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    truckee
    Posts
    23,111
    Recycling was invented by big oil to justify making and selling plastics.
    https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/89769...ld-be-recycled
    Recycling is what lets people feel good about driving cars, using air conditioners, etc.
    I wonder how many people in the drought-stricken West are rinsing plastic and cans so they can be recycled.
    Now that a lot of people in Truckee have bear boxes for the garbage, the bears have turned to the 90 gal recycling bins and all the food soiled crap in them for their nutrition.

  17. #67
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Park City
    Posts
    5,013
    The recycling Nazis in Portland used to not only make us separate but also cut all cardboard onto 3x3 squares and secure together with tine. It was very forward thinking to reduce neighborhood recycling.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    I rip the groomed on tele gear

  18. #68
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    50 miles E of Paradise
    Posts
    15,566
    ^^^The problem here is that the packaging industry offloads its environmental costs of their waste stream on the public. Behavior would likely change if the industry (ultimately the consumer) had to fund costs to recycle its products

    There are companies that convert plastic to fuel via pyrolysis- here’s one that’s been around a while
    https://www.agilyx.com/

  19. #69
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Wasatch
    Posts
    1,997
    I don’t recycle shit. Well maybe cardboard and some cans but I don’t feel like wasting water to rinse everything plastic and place in community blue bin which is visibly polluted with trash from other sources is gonna get us anywhere. Recycling has been a farce since inception and not worth the time money resources required to truck it around and “recycle” it.

  20. #70
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    EWA
    Posts
    22,004
    Quote Originally Posted by LongShortLong View Post
    Bumping an old thread that seems relevant.

    It's becoming clear to many people that recycling most (all?) plastic doesn't make sense. Why can't we just throw it away?

    I understand that many people have a religious determination to recycle, but this seems a wasteful sacred cow. And everyone knows cows are bad for the environment. Let's kill this cow.

    I contend it is far better for the environment to use plastic whenever it has the lowest life-cycle cost. And there's no reason that life-cycle shouldn't end at a landfill if that's the least impact. My engineering background makes me strongly believe the best way to package and transport many items is in plastic containers. I have seen no formal argument against single use plastics that accounts for and compares it to the life-cycle costs of alternates. All the alternates I've seen require more resources to make and transport.

    For some reason, landfills have become haram in the Eco-religion. The eco-priests are detached from science, economics, and reason. Yes, there's an environmental cost to a landfill. Include that in the calculations, and prefer the products that minimize environmental cost. I contend landfilling plastic has a smaller eco cost with fewer externalities than any alternative. The eco-priests have lost sight of their founding "eco" goals, and now worship a false god called no-waste.

    We spend an enormous amount of labor to separate it in our homes. Then we pay for a vast infrastructure to transport it separately, process it some more, find it has no value, and landfill it anyway. It's crazy. The proposed solution of banning plastic is also crazy.
    Can't recycle plastic or glass where I live.
    When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something." Rep. John Lewis


    Kindness is a bridge between all people

    Dunkin’ Donuts Worker Dances With Customer Who Has Autism

  21. #71
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Almost Mountains
    Posts
    1,883
    Quote Originally Posted by jmedslc View Post
    I don’t recycle shit. Well maybe cardboard and some cans but I don’t feel like wasting water to rinse everything plastic and place in community blue bin which is visibly polluted with trash from other sources is gonna get us anywhere. Recycling has been a farce since inception and not worth the time money resources required to truck it around and “recycle” it.
    We have zero-sort recycling here. I'd argue that the more accurate name should be single-sort, but some of the stuff I've seen in the recycling stream at the transfer station suggests that some people take the name to heart.

    I'm seriously skeptical that the mixed-recyclables stream that gets compacted together before being shipped to a Cassella facility in Vermont is truly getting sorted on arrival, but I do keep sorting even beyond the single sort required; it makes it easier to store stuff at home, helps keep stuff that belongs in the trash from hiding in the corner of a box or such, and I have the hope that maybe clumps of like material have a higher chance of ending up sorted and recycled.

    FWIW, cardboard, paperboard and returnable beverage containers seem to be most likely recycled here; certain types of glass are in some places, although that varies by area; and most plastics, who knows. Oh, and salvageable metal also gets recycled.

    The returnable can/bottle program seems, despite some inefficiencies, to be successful on the whole. The cost gets pushed to the consumer at the point of sale and they get a rebate for that cash amount upon returning the containers for recycling; if they discard the containers elsewhere, someone else can collect them and return them for the deposit value. I'm fairly confident it increases actual recycling; it definitely helps reduce roadside litter.

    Sent from my SM-G892A using TGR Forums mobile app

  22. #72
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    I can still smell Poutine.
    Posts
    24,503
    Quote Originally Posted by anotherVTskibum View Post
    We have zero-sort recycling here. I'd argue that the more accurate name should be single-sort, but some of the stuff I've seen in the recycling stream at the transfer station suggests that some people take the name to heart.

    I'm seriously skeptical that the mixed-recyclables stream that gets compacted together before being shipped to a Cassella facility in Vermont is truly getting sorted on arrival, but I do keep sorting even beyond the single sort required; it makes it easier to store stuff at home, helps keep stuff that belongs in the trash from hiding in the corner of a box or such, and I have the hope that maybe clumps of like material have a higher chance of ending up sorted and recycled.

    FWIW, cardboard, paperboard and returnable beverage containers seem to be most likely recycled here; certain types of glass are in some places, although that varies by area; and most plastics, who knows. Oh, and salvageable metal also gets recycled.

    The returnable can/bottle program seems, despite some inefficiencies, to be successful on the whole. The cost gets pushed to the consumer at the point of sale and they get a rebate for that cash amount upon returning the containers for recycling; if they discard the containers elsewhere, someone else can collect them and return them for the deposit value. I'm fairly confident it increases actual recycling; it definitely helps reduce roadside litter.

    Sent from my SM-G892A using TGR Forums mobile app
    VT can/bottle deposit has been a thing as long as I can remember, and I'm 53.

  23. #73
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Dystopia
    Posts
    21,053
    Glass has never been economical

    Plastic maybe. But even if not it can be burned. Waste incinerator with exhaust scrubber works.

    Aluminum and steel is a no brainer.

    Paper and cardboard works if not contaminated
    Otherwise burn that too.

    Amazing to read here about trash to China. Wtf.

    PS. How many more cardboard boxes since the interwebs and Amazon?

  24. #74
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    between campus and church
    Posts
    9,925

  25. #75
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Dystopia
    Posts
    21,053
    Good point about composting.

    If that were promoted there would tons less landfill

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •